Curiosity
by sunshard
Summary: A snowstorm's raging in Vale, and Jenna's bored. Hmm, this could be fatal...or not. [Valeshipping] [minor Steam and Lighthouse] [oneshot] [slightly edited]


Blah. I was looking at some Mudshipper's profile (I was looking for Sheena/Zelos fanfiction –guilty, shifty look-) and I got annoyed, so THIS sprouted from my mind. Keep in mind that though this is my first Golden Sun fiction **posted**, it's not my first one written. But, alas, characters may still be OC. Particularly Jenna. X.x But, c'est la vie. Pointlessness ahead. No fixed time in the game, probably post-Lost Age. Piers and Ivan fell off the plotline into a bottomless hole, I'm afraid. Mmm, minor!smut.

* * *

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Isaac's house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

…Well, that, actually, was inaccurate. It was two days before Christmas, December twenty-third. The house wasn't quiet – Garet was snoring in the guest room, Felix and Sheba were in the kitchen cooking (and probably doing…other…things that Jenna shuddered to think of (1)), Isaac's pet robin (2) was twittering incessantly in the front hallway, and Jenna was drumming her fingers dully on the piano room glass table in a haze of boredom.

The redhaired Radiant ceased tapping just for a moment to glance out the window. The exterior windowsill had tons of snow piled upon it, and she could see a twinkle at the top of the window where Uncle Kyle had strewn some fairy lights the day before. The glass pane was totally frosted over - like Mia had cast an ice spell on it - so it was difficult to look outside. But it didn't take a genius to tell that a rare snowstorm was raging in the serene village of Vale.

Jenna loved snow. It was extraordinary that snow should fall in Vale, so she'd learned to treasure the unusual snowfall that occurred every few winters. She loved the cold touch of the snowflakes on her face and the taste of it and the incredible usefulness of it (Snow Use # 219: chucking it in the form of snowballs at Garet whenever he stepped on her jasmine (2) garden, which was much too often).

But this, really, was ridiculous.

She didn't have amazing resilience to the cold like Proxians, so she could not venture out to do anything in the snow. Then again, no one could at the moment (except Mia, who had gone shopping because "I can, gosh! Oh and that wonderful chiffon dress that matches my eyes is on sale now…").

So instead, she was stuck at Isaac's, with no one to pester (Garet being asleep, Felix and Sheba being in the midst of bringing out their culinary and most likely snogging skills, Mia being in her rabid!shopper mode, and Piers and Ivan being stuck in the bottomless hole (3)).

…Oh, wait. And then there was Isaac. Jenna untied and retied her hair in a twist, standing up. Now, where was he…? Hmph, probably off reading porn somewhere. Luna knows, that was all Felix and Garet used to do in _their_ spare time. (4)

She'd better go find him and pester him. That _had_ been her favorite pastime before she had been kidnapped, after all. Glancing about, she focused her psynergy and sensed his recognizable aura in the dining room. Nodding decisively, she headed off in that direction.

* * *

Isaac was not, in fact, reading porn.

Not like any of us do.

Right?

Right…

Isaac _was_, however, reading – a book called Traveling Around Weyard (5), which had captured his attention for a few hours now and was extremely inaccurate to the point of amusement. Pushing up his half-moon reading glasses up his nose with his middle finger (6), he glanced down at the page he had just edited. A tiny paragraph, only four sentences long, contained about 15 mistakes ranging from the fact that Dullahan was spelled with an "a" and not an "e" to the fact that the Elemental Stars were used to light the four elemental lighthouses, not summon Iris.

Nodding in satisfaction, the Venus Adept turned the page and dipped his eagle feather quill into the inkbottle next to him on the lightstand, preparing to correct again. But just when he was about to make his first correction (changing Lemuria Sanctum to Anemos), Jenna bounded in, almost knocking over a bookcase on the wall and coming over to him. She tossed herself heavily into a poofy chair next to Isaac's, sighing deeply. The Protector looked over to her, then back to the book when she didn't say anything. After a few moments, though, she did.

"Hey."

Isaac looked over to her again, surprised at her late greeting. She had sat up in the chair and undid her scabbard from her belt, placing the Tisiphone Edge with loving care down on the coffee table next to Isaac's Darksword. "Hey," he responded, tapping his fingers on the crisp page of parchment. Now that Jenna (7) had come in, he'd totally lost his train of thought. She looked nicer than usual, her hair falling in messy strands all over her face and her lips pursed in a frown. Ever since they'd been born in Vale, to the time they'd been separated in Sol Sanctum and finally to the time they'd been reunited in Contigo, they had been steadfast friends. Nothing but harmless flirting had happened between them, and Isaac was surprised that that was all.

But he didn't mind. He was still pretty young.

…Nineteen _was_ pretty young, right?

"Mia likes you," Jenna spoke absently.

Isaac snorted mentally. "Yes, well…that's obvious enough…(8)" He dipped his quill a second time and began reading again.

She snapped her fingers, and flames burst into life in the fireplace. It emanated a warming glow – just like her healing aura, her class (9), her face when she smiled. "She's liked you since you saved her from that monster in the Mercury Lighthouse."

Isaac tried to think back to that time. He could only remember a vague picture of some green thing with a lot of mandibles. "Garet struck the final blow," he said lamely.

Jenna shrugged. "Feizhi likes you, too."

Isaac's eyelid twitched. He remembered that disastrous time Kraden had tried to match him and her up. (10) He'd had a lot of fun Odyssey-ing the old man to Osenia.

"She likes you because you saved her brother on the Silk Road."

"That was Ivan," Isaac muttered. "He cast Reveal on the wall to expose the passageway and Mia used the Lift Gem to get the boulder off of Hsu."

"Huh. Well, that girl in the apothecary shop in Mikasalla _really_ likes you. And I don't even know why."

"…" What girl? He never even managed to notice these things…he wondered how Jenna did.

"Have you noticed how all the girls in the apothecary shop look the same? (11) They must be all multi-sextuplets or something."

"…" She was talkative today, much more than usual – even more than Felix, who had talked up a storm after the mute sickness (12) had worn off.

"Even Sheba had this thing for you before she started seeing Felix in a new light." Isaac's mouth dropped open uncharacteristically of the thoughtful swordsman. "Ever since you fought for her on top of Venus Lighthouse." Jenna quirked an eyebrow. "You're sure the hero, aren't you?"

"Felix's the real hero," Isaac muttered, turning his head away. He still felt terrible for killing Saturos and Menardi and trying to prevent Felix from saving Weyard. Jenna shrugged again.

"He doesn't mind what you did. Get your mind off it, it was a long time ago."

"Only about a year. Doesn't matter anyway, though, the girl I like doesn't care if I'm the hero or not."

Jenna eyed him curiously. "Care to tell me who it is?"

He shook his head, a pinkish blush spreading on his cheeks.

Jenna sighed again and nestled deeper in the chair. "Didn't think so. Why don't you describe her?"

This time a smile spread on his face. "She's…really unique. She can be the nicest person on Weyard at times, and a violent demonic banshee (13) the next. She's strong, even stronger than Garet sometimes (14), but then she's actually sensitive underneath, and cares a lot for her family. She can fight, but she can heal…she's truly one of the prettiest girls I've seen, but I'm honestly confused why no one's tried to…you know…accost her yet. Schizophrenic, I think she is…"

Jenna stared at him for a moment, placing her finger on her cheek. Then she settled back into her chair with a triumphant smile. "I know who she is."

Isaac knocked his inkbottle over in shock, whipping off his glasses with a sigh, as he really wasn't reading anymore. Conjuring up a washcloth, he bent down to clean the spill up, Jenna copying his actions. "Well…now that you know…what're you going to do about it?"

His childhood friend blinked at him, tossing her ink-soaked cloth aside and instead passing her hand over the stain, the blemish disappearing as she 'healed' the carpet. "Well, that's obvious enough!" she said, laughing. "I'm going to tell Mia she should start trying something…after all, she's only been shy now because she thinks you like _me_! Ha, like that would ever happen…"

Isaac mentally sighed in relief even as he felt disappointment make his heart drop. "Er, no, actually, the girl I like isn't Mia," he said, allowing himself a smile. Jenna blinked.

"No? But…she fits everything you said…" Seeing Isaac's skeptical look, she went on. "You see, she's really nice, but she's always scolding Garet. She's pretty strong – once again, stronger than Garet in the way she's always kicking him…but sometimes I catch her crying about Alex, you know, because she considered him her brother and look what he did. She can heal and fight and she's really pretty, but no one exactly notices her."

Isaac snorted under his breath. "Oh yeah, no one but Garet," he muttered, raising his head and brushing strands of blonde hair out of his eyes. "Well…I'm afraid it's not her."

Jenna frowned. "She's going to be disappointed. Hmm…" A smile spread on her face. "Will you tell me now?"

Isaac smiled. "No."

"Not even a hint?"

"I gave you lots of hints, Jen." He reached out and ruffled her hair, the Radiant ducking resentfully out of his grasp. "You're just too dense to see it."

She scowled. "You suck, Isaac. You suck even more than Felix."

"If you want to think of me that way. But, hey, I'll make a deal with you…"

This piqued her interest. "Shoot."

"In the next twenty-four hours, I'll kiss the girl I like."

They shook hands. Then Isaac took hold of her arm, drew her toward him, and kissed her in one fluid motion. After a moment he pulled away, a blush tingeing his cheeks again. Jenna touched her lips vaguely, tilting her head and looking at him.

"That was quick."

"Well…I…"

"And interesting."

Isaac tried not to smile at her magnificent bluntness. "Have anything else to say?"

"Nope." This time she pulled him towards her and kissed him.

A few moments later, Jenna had settled herself in Isaac's lap, resting her head on his shoulder and staring up at him as he absently ran his fingers through her hair. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" she asked simply.

"Er…too shy." (15)

"Yeah…me too."

"It was lucky you were curious enough to want to find out who I liked. I would have never told you or anything like that."

Jenna smiled. "Yeah…curiosity doesn't always kill the cat…"

"Guess not. Who made up that saying, anyway? Probably some idiot like Kraden..."

"Definitely. But...uh...do you _really_ think of me as a violent demonic banshee?"

_**

* * *

Fin**_

By: Mashou

Time: 7:30 PM - two days later

Done while: downloading Tales of Symphonia music, making glitter names, reading fanfiction, eating, talking to Xy, etc…

Dedication: Xyla (who kept pestering me to do this TT)

Status: finished and I mean finished

Pairings: IsaacJenna, vague GaretMia, FelixSheba

Setting: Vale, AU-ish

Notes: -has this sudden, sneaking suspicion- Kratos isn't Lloyd's father, is he…! (Don't tell me if he is or not if you know x.x) Oh, er, I mean, yeah. Review. :D Even though it sucked. TT Majorly. TT The pointlessness knocked me out. TT Gosh, it was so anti-climaxical. TT Good thing was, this was probably the longest thing I ever word. X) But the ending was lame. Like in the "DUDE WHOA THAT WAS LAME" sense. TT I'm ashamed of myself. But...what the hell, review anyway!

(1) yeah, so I'm a sucker for Lighthouseshipping. So what. X.x

(2) Kudos to you if you understood why Jenna had a jasmine flower garden and why Isaac had a pet robin. Tell me in the review why and I'll, er, be surprised.

(3) Sorry. X.x Too many characters to deal with. (Yeah, like two is too much…x.x)

(4) -ducks mud thrown by Isaac, Garet, and Felix fans- IT'S A JOKE. A JOKE. Sheesh. Why am I always getting mud thrown at me?

(5) You know, the world map song for the Lost Age before you join up with Isaac and get the music "Walking Forward With Determination"? Hmm. Guess you don't know. Go check out the Golden Sun Realm, you.

(6) The way Ishida from Bleach does it! –long pause- 'course, no one here even knows what the heck Bleach _is_. –sigh-

(7) you know what's really strange? On my computer, Microsoft Word thinks "Jenna" is spelled wrong. T.T And I thought it was a generic name.

(8) "Obvious enough"…NOT. So what if she smiled at him in Colosso? –snort-

(9) which is Radiant. Obvious enough. I like her as a Radiant, it's almost a clone of Protector – just without Revive. x.x

(10) Pre-this fic, Post-Lost Age. Isn't Kraden simply poopy?

(11) XD well, they _do_ look the same…

(12) You see, with Mia and Ivan's help, Isaac managed to transfer his mute sickness to his Gaia Blade at the end of the first Golden Sun. He sold it to a shop in Tolbi, where he was sure Felix would come across it (still thinking Felix had evil intents). Sure enough, Felix picked it up, and was infected just like Isaac til the end of the Lost Age when his grief helped him get over the disease. XD I have strange fantasies, don't I?

(13) "Violent demonic banshee"…oh darn, there goes another Tales of Symphonia plug. –death-

(14) true. It is true. Jenna had the most strength, even more than Isaac at the end for me. Of course I _did_ give her about 5 Apples, but…

(15) is it just me, or do they all sound British all of a sudden? –kicks desk- darnit, I've got to stop watching those British sitcoms.


End file.
